Bushmen Win Right to Return to Kalahari

The San people, also known as the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, were kicked off their land in 2002. They were settled into camps, where they have subsisted largely on hand-outs. By a 2-1 decision, a panel of judges decided they had been removed illegally, and that they could return. While the government may appeal, as of now, the San people can go home.

The Botswana government had argued that the lifestyle of the Bushmen had changed and that, therefore, they didn’t have rights to the Kalahari. Moreover, their presence interfered with conservation efforts. Further, their reservation in the Kalahari was a “poverty trap,” and by living there, they were being denied access to educational opportunities and to healthcare. Life would simply be better for them under the government’s policy.

The San’s lawyer, Gordon Bennett, said, “It’s about the right of the applicants to live inside the reserve as long as they want - and that’s a marvelous victory.” Indeed, they may have fewer chances to go to school and watch TV in the desert, but that’s their choice. An overwhelming number of Americans don't know why anyone would want to live in New York, but the 7 million or so there are certainly entitled to their choices. Why should the Bushmen not have the same rights?

DeBeers, the diamond operation, has denied that it wants to extend its extraction business to the Kalahari, but Botswana is a huge diamond exporter. The removal of the Bushmen did smell of a land grab. Roy Sesana, one of the leaders in the lawsuit, said, “The government told us to leave or they would send the army in. My wife was ill and I was away in the capital arguing about these removals, and they told her to leave or else they would put her in my hut and burn it down.” The Cherokee and Nez Perce were treated much the same way.

To Botswana’s credit, the case was not shuttled off to one side. The judiciary confronted the government, and actually overturned a major policy in doing so. While the romantic in most people is pleased for the San, the sad truth is that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that was shown in every 5th grade social studies class is gone and has been for a time. The clear-eyed, though, can still take heart that the political system of Botswana has demonstrated its ability to self-correct without resorting to force. There is no harder political challenge, nor any greater political victory.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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